A dome switch, or dome, configured to be mounted on a printed circuit board (PCB), a flex circuit, or a membrane is well known in the prior art. Each dome switch may be secured to a mounting substrate (e.g., a PCB) by an adhesive. To increase the actuation force of a single switch, two domes may be stacked in a single position on the mounting substrate. When depressed, a dome switch may be configured to make contact with two traces and thereby close (or complete) a single circuit. Therefore, two dome switches would be required to close two separate circuits.
However, using two dome switches to independently close two separate circuits has several disadvantages. First, the overall bulk of an electronic device increases as the number of dome switches increases. Second, since two prior art dome switches cannot be co-mounted, actuating two separate electronic devices by depressing a single switch is not possible.
A prior art solution for a single switch that can simultaneously close two separate circuits is a double-pole, double-throw (DPDT) rocker switch. Unfortunately, DPDT switches are too bulky for many applications.
Accordingly, it can be seen that needs exist for the multi-pole dome switch disclosed herein. It is to the provision of a multi-pole dome switch configured to address these needs, and others, that the present invention in primarily directed.